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Film festivalís Aberdeen debut celebrates twin city links

07/02/14

An acclaimed international film festival will be hitting the silver screen in the Granite City this week.

For the first time, the Festival du Court Metrage will be held in Aberdeen, and twin city Clermont-Ferrand, to celebrate the links between the two cities. A series of short animated and live action films will be shown at the Belmont Cinema, in parallel with the festival in France.

The Aberdeen premiere took place on Wednesday, and free tickets are still available for the public screenings on 09 and 10 February.

Audiences will watch the collection of short movies from countries including France, Japan and the UK. The films are:
 Azul (PG) an animated film featuring an ancient Greek warrior, a flower lady and a robot shipwrecked on an island;
 DeepEndDance (PG) a live-action short featuring a man dancing with his mother in a swimming pool, then being rescued by her when he gets into difficulty;
 Hibernation (12A) a live-action short about two boys coming to terms with the death of their young friend;
 Logorama (15) animated film where all features are made of easily-recognisable corporate logos, including Ronald McDonald as a criminal who takes a child hostage while being pursued by the police;
 Noodlefish (PG) a stop-motion film using sand and noodles to create the visuals. It tells the story of a little fish washed out of his pond into the ocean during a flood, and his experiences meeting ocean fish.
 Turning (15) a live-action, coming-of-age drama with some animation featuring a teenage boy and his three aunts;
 UnaFurtiva (PG) animated film about dead fish coming alive in a frying pan and miming to an operatic song by Enrico Caruso as they are being cooked;
 Voorman Problem (PG) live-action drama about a psychiatrist's dealings with a prisoner who believes he is a god and claims to have created the universe in the previous nine days. To prove his point, he makes Belguim disappear;
 Yuri Lennons Lands on Mars (12A) live-action film about an astronaut who inadvertently destroys the Earth while on Mars.

Festival du Court Metrage is extremely popular in Clermont-Ferrand and it is hoped that it will be equally popular here.

Lord Provost George Adam said: "I am really looking forward to the festival, which promises to be an entertaining few days. It's great to see a festival like this being brought to Aberdeen with the help of our twin city Clermont-Ferrand, which features an interesting mix of professionally shot films and genres.

"This is a great example of Aberdeen working with one of our twin cities to give citizens a tangible link to our overseas friends and opportunities to sample their arts, culture and way of life."

The idea for the international film festival in Aberdeen was borne of a council officers' visit to Clermont-Ferrand last year, when discussions were held about how cultural and twinning links could be used to engage with local people and city visitors.

The Festival du Court Metrage is being brought to Aberdeen as part of a broad range of activities aimed at strengthening links with Aberdeen's twin cities, fostering international understanding and friendship, and an appreciation of cultural diversity.

It is hoped the event will lead to further film festival opportunities with Aberdeen's other twin cities, including Regensburg and Stavanger.

Public screenings of the Festival du Court Metrage will take place at 2pm on Sunday, 09 February and 6.30pm on Monday, 10 February. These sessions will be open to those aged 15 and over only. The shorts will also be shown, to age appropriate audiences, alongside adverts and trailers before other films screened at the Belmont Street cinema.